A Widower's Lament

“In a work deeply reminiscent of Lewis’s A Grief Observed, we gain here a glimpse into early modern piety, the family, indeed love, refracted through the lens of loss, pain, and grief. Rittgers has done scholars of early modernity, cultural history, the history of the family, and emotions a great service in finding, then translating this deeply personal story of one man’s loss.” –David Whitford, Baylor University

“In this four-hundred-year-old book of meditations, we travel with a new widower through his first year of widowhood. Amid the agony of loss, he turns to God to seek comfort for his distress, drawing both on the religious resources of his Lutheran faith and on his own creativity. Rittgers is a trustworthy guide to Oelhafen’s world and heart.” –Anna M. Johnson, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

“Rittgers has given us access to a remarkable early Lutheran document of Christian piety as a new widower copes with loss and grief and looks for consolation. This sensitive and deeply personal book will enrich any reader, whether an interested non-specialist or, thanks to the superb introduction and copious annotations, a professional historian.” –Kenneth G. Appold, Princeton Theological Seminary

Ronald K. Rittgers holds the Duke Divinity School Chair in Lutheran Studies and also serves as Professor of the History of Christianity. Prior to this role he held the Erich Markel Chair in German Reformation Studies at Valparaiso University. He is the author of several books, including The Reformation of Suffering: Pastoral Theology and Lay Piety in Late Medieval and Early Modern Germany (2012).

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